A selection of stories about food and eating from the British newspapers

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

U-turn as Blanc backs own reality restaurant TV show

The Guardian

By Matthew Taylor

When the French chef Raymond Blanc unleashed a scathing attack on those star-struck colleagues prepared to swap the kitchen for the television studio it seemed clear where his priorities lay.The 55-year-old did not name names but said chefs who appeared on television shows degraded the profession and provided "sensational rubbish" for "morons" adding: "We have 8 million morons watching these programmes. The brains of the British have gone soft."But yesterday as he launched his new reality television show, The Restaurant, it appeared all such concerns had disappeared. "To set up a business, especially a restaurant business, and make a success of it is one of the hardest things in the world," he said. "I look forward to sharing my experience and expertise with like-minded people who are eager to enter this crazy but irresistible world and achieve the dream for themselves."